Girls’ lacrosse: Coming through in pressure situations

PORTLAND – Lacrosse may not be Martha Veroneau’s favorite sport, but don’t tell her opponents.

This spring, Veroneau scored 46 goals and had a team-high 43 assists to lead Waynflete to its first Class B state championship since 2009 to become the Maine Sunday Telegram’s player of the year for girls’ lacrosse.

Additional Photos

Martha Veroneau had 46 goals and 43 assists for the Flyers. During the playoffs, she had a hand in 25 of her team’s 36 goals. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

“When you think she’s at her fastest, she has another level, another gear, and she kicks it in,” Waynflete Coach Cathie Connors said.

Veroneau, a junior, seemed to be at her best during the postseason. The Flyers scored 36 goals in their three tournament games, and she scored or assisted on 25 of them.

“The girl just responds because she is so competitive,” Connors said. “She’s in tremendous shape, but she also has this really huge drive. She’s a tremendous athlete, through in through, from head to toe.”

Veroneau has been a big-game performer in high school.

In February, she scored a tournament-record 47 points to lead the Flyers to a 78-61 win against Boothbay in a Western Class C basketball semifinal. She made nine 3-point shots to tie a tournament record for all classes.

As a freshman, Veroneau finished first in the Class C state cross country meet as the Flyers captured the third of four consecutive team titles.

Veroneau said basketball remains her favorite athletic endeavor, but lacrosse comes in a close second.

“I shoot around and pass around with my siblings, and play wall ball during the offseason and during the summer,” she said.

Veroneau’s twin sister, Catherine, also plays lacrosse but missed this season because of a knee injury.

One of eight children, Veroneau seldom has difficulty finding someone to play pass and catch.

“My younger brothers have been really playing lacrosse a lot,” she said. “I’ve been passing around with them a lot.”

According to Veroneau, her brothers John, 12, and Michael, 9, are both lacrosse fanatics.

“It’s great to have so many siblings around to play with and just hang out with,” she said. “I have fun. It’s not like a drag to go out and play and hone my skills.”

Veroneau always is in tiptop condition.

“I always have that base from cross country,” she said. “I work on being able to make it up and down the field, or the court, the whole game because I know with the position I play I’m going to have to do that.

“I hate games when I’m dead at the end. I really try hard to not reach that point in games so I can’t do what I have to do for the team.”

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